Comments on: Election 2009: Part the second http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/election-2009-part-the-second/ Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:28:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Sarah http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/election-2009-part-the-second/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Sarah Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:09:25 +0000 http://www.sarahlay.com/?p=23#comment-20 Thanks for the tip off - did not know. Might also be of interest to Dan at Redbridge so will let him know.<br />Cheers! Thanks for the tip off – did not know. Might also be of interest to Dan at Redbridge so will let him know.
Cheers!

]]> By: Paul Canning http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/election-2009-part-the-second/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Paul Canning Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:23:50 +0000 http://www.sarahlay.com/?p=23#comment-19 'map all the polling stations in the country and link it into public transport'<br /><br />Transport Direct have a widget which might be good for this - extremely under promoted widget! 'map all the polling stations in the country and link it into public transport'

Transport Direct have a widget which might be good for this – extremely under promoted widget!

]]> By: Sarah http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/election-2009-part-the-second/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Sarah Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:53:06 +0000 http://www.sarahlay.com/?p=23#comment-18 And as an additional: We now have some of that detailed information up. We've added a page with the division, electorate, spoilt and votes for each candidate. You can find it here: http://elections.derbyshire.gov.uk/2009elections/by_division/<br /><br />We will add to this when we are back in the office Monday but hope this is helpful in the meantime.<br /><br />Sarah And as an additional: We now have some of that detailed information up. We've added a page with the division, electorate, spoilt and votes for each candidate. You can find it here: http://elections.derbyshire.gov.uk/2009elections/by_division/

We will add to this when we are back in the office Monday but hope this is helpful in the meantime.

Sarah

]]> By: Sarah http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/election-2009-part-the-second/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Sarah Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:47:55 +0000 http://www.sarahlay.com/?p=23#comment-17 Thanks for your comments Richard.<br /><br />My primary role is in content, accessibility and usability and so publishing the right information in the right way at the right time is really the key to my work!<br /><br />I agree, as I said above, that not being able to add the detail to the results as we were going along was a major disappointment and set back to us. This information will be added as soon as possible along with other displays.<br /><br />I am not sure about releasing what we have done as Open Source. Some of it was done within our CMS and as this is a commercial product that would have limitations. We have no problem sharing our experience with colleagues in other councils as we have done in the past, and benefited from their knowledge and experience too. This will be another aspect of discussions as we move away from actively working on this area of content.<br /><br />I can't comment on whether open source costs more than close source as I am not in a technical officer and as such have insufficient knowledge myself. Thanks for your comments Richard.

My primary role is in content, accessibility and usability and so publishing the right information in the right way at the right time is really the key to my work!

I agree, as I said above, that not being able to add the detail to the results as we were going along was a major disappointment and set back to us. This information will be added as soon as possible along with other displays.

I am not sure about releasing what we have done as Open Source. Some of it was done within our CMS and as this is a commercial product that would have limitations. We have no problem sharing our experience with colleagues in other councils as we have done in the past, and benefited from their knowledge and experience too. This will be another aspect of discussions as we move away from actively working on this area of content.

I can't comment on whether open source costs more than close source as I am not in a technical officer and as such have insufficient knowledge myself.

]]> By: Richard Taylor http://www.sarahlay.com/2009/06/election-2009-part-the-second/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Richard Taylor Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:50:55 +0000 http://www.sarahlay.com/?p=23#comment-16 This is all absolutely excellent, more councils should be engaging online like this. <br /><br />Am I right that it's still not possible get the breakdown of votes within each ward? I think that the priorities have been wrong here, publishing the raw information on numbers of votes, preferably along with turnout figures and numbers of spoilt papers should have been the primary duty of the council website. The graphics and social networking is fabulous and you've clearly done really well at getting some information out, but I think the detail is important. I realise you were planning to provide it.<br /><br />Is there any your employer will allow you to release the software you've developed under an open source license so that it can be taken up, used, and improved by other councils? I think great developments like this in one part of the public sector ought be shared. Lots of people are trying to do very similar things in different parts of the country there shouldn't be a need to re-invent the wheel repeatedly. <br /><br />I've been told by some of my local councillors that open source development costs more than close source. Do you share that view? This is all absolutely excellent, more councils should be engaging online like this.

Am I right that it's still not possible get the breakdown of votes within each ward? I think that the priorities have been wrong here, publishing the raw information on numbers of votes, preferably along with turnout figures and numbers of spoilt papers should have been the primary duty of the council website. The graphics and social networking is fabulous and you've clearly done really well at getting some information out, but I think the detail is important. I realise you were planning to provide it.

Is there any your employer will allow you to release the software you've developed under an open source license so that it can be taken up, used, and improved by other councils? I think great developments like this in one part of the public sector ought be shared. Lots of people are trying to do very similar things in different parts of the country there shouldn't be a need to re-invent the wheel repeatedly.

I've been told by some of my local councillors that open source development costs more than close source. Do you share that view?

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